Joan of Arc - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com Google Joan of Arc’s Early Life Born around 1412, Jeanne d’Arc (or in English, Joan of Arc) was the daughter of a tenant farmer, Jacques d’Arc, from the village of Domrémy, in northeastern France. She was not taught to read or write, but her pious mother instilled in her a deep love for the Catholic Church and its teachings. At the time, France had long been torn apart by a bitter conflict with England (later known as the Hundred Years’ War), in which England had gained the upper hand. A peace treaty in 1420 disinherited the French crown prince, Charles of Valois, amid accusations of his illegitimacy, and King Henry V was made ruler of both England and France. His son, Henry VI, succeeded him in 1422. Along with its French allies (led by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy), England occupied much of northern France, and many in Joan’s village, Domrémy, were forced to abandon their homes under threat of invasion. Did You Know?

In a private audience at his castle at Chinon, Joan of Arc won the future Charles VII over by supposedly revealing information that only a messenger from God could know; the details of this conversation are unknown. At the age of 13, Joan began to hear voices, which she determined had been sent by God to give her a mission of overwhelming importance: to save France by expelling its enemies, and to install Charles as its rightful king. As part of this divine mission, Joan took a vow of chastity. At the age of 16, after her father attempted to arrange a marriage for her, she successfully convinced a local court that she should not be forced to accept the match. Joan’s Journey to Orléans In May 1428, Joan made her way Vaucouleurs, a nearby stronghold of those loyal to Charles. Initially rejected by the local magistrate, Robert de Baudricourt, she persisted, attracting a small band of followers who believed her claims to be the virgin who (according to a popular prophecy) was destined to save France.

When Baudricort relented, Joan cropped her hair and dressed in men’s clothes to make the 11-day journey across enemy territory to Chinon, site of the crown prince’s palace. Joan promised Charles she would see him crowned king at Reims, the traditional site of French royal investiture, and asked him to give her an army to lead to Orléans, then under siege from the English. Against the advice of most of his counselors and generals, Charles granted her request, and Joan set off for Orléans in March of 1429 dressed in white armor and riding a white horse. After sending off a defiant letter to the enemy, Joan led several French assaults against them, driving the Anglo-Burgundians from their bastion and forcing their retreat across the Loire River. Downfall of Joan of Arc After such a miraculous victory, Joan’s reputation spread far and wide among French forces. She and her followers escorted Charles across enemy territory to Reims, taking towns that resisted by force and enabling his coronation as King Charles VII in July 1429.

Joan argued that the French should press their advantage with an attempt to retake Paris, but Charles wavered, even as his favorite at court, Georges de La Trémoille, warned him that Joan was becoming too powerful. The Anglo-Burgundians were able to fortify their positions in Paris, and turned back an attack led by Joan in September. In the spring of 1430, the king ordered Joan to confront a Burgundian assault on Compiégne. In her effort to defend the town and its inhabitants, she was thrown from her horse, and was left outside the town’s gates as they closed. The Burgundians took her captive, and brought her amid much fanfare to the castle of Bouvreuil, occupied by the English commander at Rouen. Joan of Arc: From Witch to Saint In the trial that followed, Joan was ordered to answer to some 70 charges against her, including witchcraft, heresy and dressing like a man. The Anglo-Burgundians were aiming to get rid of the young leader as well as discredit Charles, who owed his coronation to her.

In attempting to distance himself from an accused heretic and witch, the French king made no attempt to negotiate Joan’s release. In May 1431, after a year in captivity and under threat of death, Joan relented and signed a confession denying that she had ever received divine guidance. Several days later, however, she defied orders by again donning men’s clothes, and authorities pronounced her death sentence. On the morning of May 30, at the age of 19, Joan was taken to the old market place of Rouen and burned at the stake. Her fame only increased after her death, however, and 20 years later a new trial ordered by Charles VII cleared her name. Long before Pope Benedict XV canonized her in 1920, Joan of Arc had attained mythic stature, inspiring numerous works of art and literature over the centuries and becoming the patron saint of France. Tags Burning at the stake Burning at the stake. Burning at the stake in public was used in England & Wales to punish heresy for both sexes and for women convicted of High Treason or Petty Treason.

Men who were convicted of high treason were hanged, drawn and quartered but this was not deemed acceptable for women as it would have involved nudity. High Treason included such offences as counterfeiting money and "coining" (the clipping of coins for pieces of silver and gold which were melted down to produce counterfeit coins), possession of coining equipment and colouring base metal coins (to pass them off as of higher value). Oddly, men who committed these same crimes suffered just ordinary hanging having been first drawn to the place of execution on a hurdle. Petty Treason was the murder by a woman of her husband or her mistress, as they were considered her superiors in law.ï¿½ In Scotland burning was the punishment for witchcraft (see later).ï¿½ It is not known when burning was first used in Britain, but there is a recorded burning for heresy in 1222, when a deacon of the church was burnt at Oxford for embracing the Jewish faith so he could marry a Jew. In 1401, the king authorised a Statute of Heresy which gave the clergy power to arrest and try those suspected of heresy.

The first to suffer under the new act was one William Sautre, a priest, who was executed at (Kings) Lynn in 1402. This statute was repealed in 1553, but burning was re-introduced by Henry VIII. His daughter, Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary"), was also very keen on this method and 274 burnings of both sexes for heresy were recorded during her five year reign (reign of terror) in the mid 16th century. In most cases their only "crime" was following the Protestant faith. The normal place of execution in London being at West Smith Field (now called just Smithfield ). An engraving of the period shows that these unfortunates were stood in empty tar barrels at the stake and then had faggots heaped round them. It was not the practice to strangle heretics before they were burnt so they died slow and horrible deaths - being literally burned alive.

Burning was in use throughout Europe at this time and was particularly favoured by the Spanish Inquisition as it did not involve shedding of the victim's blood, which was disallowed under the prevailing Roman Catholic doctrine, and because it ensured that the condemned had no body to take into the next life (which was believed to be a very severe punishment in itself).ï¿½ It was also thought at that time that burning cleansed the soul which was considered important for those convicted of witchcraft and heresy. Although many people might associate burning at the stake with witchcraft, it was much less used for that offence in Britain than in other parts of Europe and the Nordic countries. In England witchcraft was a felony and thus punishable by hanging.

Alice Molland is thought to have been the last person to suffer for witchcraft, at Exeter in 1684.ï¿½ However, Scotland did burn witches and there are many recorded instances of both sexes suffering this fate.ï¿½ On the 18th of May 1671 Janet McMuldroche and Elspeth Thompson were strangled and burned at Dumfries .ï¿½ The following are the words of the warrant for their execution, dated two days earlier : ï¿½Forsamuch as in ane court of Justiciarie holden be us within the Tolbuithe of drumfreis vpon the fyftein day of May instant Jonet McMuldroche and Elspeth Thomsone were found guiltie be ane ascyse of the se[ver]all articles of witchcraft spe[cif]it in the verdict given againest them theiranent Were decerned and adjudged be us the Lords Commissioners of Justiciarie to be tane vpon thursday next the eighteen day of May instant Betuixt tuo and foure houres in the afernoone to the ordinare place of executione the toune of drum

freis And their to be wirried at ane stake till they be dead And theirafter their bodies to be brunt to ashes And all their moveable goods and geir to be escheat.ï¿½ Note : (wirried means strangled and escheat means confiscated)ï¿½ The last person to be burned as a witch in Scotland was Janet Horne at Dornoch in Ross shire in 1727.

Janet had been accused of witching her daughter to make her hands and feet grow into horses hooves, so that she could ride her. The daughter had a deformed hand, due to being ï¿½shod by the Devilï¿½!ï¿½ She was also tried but acquitted.ï¿½ She later had a child who exhibited the same kind of congenital hand deformity.ï¿½ A stone at the place of execution commemorates her death. The witchcraft Acts were repealed there in 1736. It is claimed that as many as 200,000 people were burned for witchcraft in Europe in 16th and 17th centuries.ï¿½ Three slightly different methods of burning were used. The first, consisted of using a heap of faggots piled around a wooden stake above which the prisoner was attached with chains or iron hoops.

The British and Spanish Inquisition preferred this method as it had the greatest visual impact.ï¿½ This form of burning typically subjects the prisoner to a far more agonising death as it some time before the flames reach head level.ï¿½ In most cases of treason and witchcraft the prisoner was strangled first before the fire was lit.ï¿½ In Scotland the strangling formed part of the sentence for convicted witches. The second method was to tie the condemned to the stake and heap faggots all round them, effectively hiding their sufferings, so that they died inside a wall of flames . It is said that Joan of Arc died like this.ï¿½ It is thought that this method led to a much quicker death because the victim was forced to breathe the flame and hot gasses surrounding their face.ï¿½ The heat of the air causes the lining of the trachea to swell up thus blocking the airway and leading to suffocation within a few minutes. The third method, used in Germany and the Nordic countries, involved tying the prisoner to a near vertical ladder, the top of which was tied to a frame, and then swinging them down onto the fire.

Until 1790, every woman convicted of counterfeiting gold or silver coin of the realm, was sentenced to be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution and there " to be burned with fire till she was dead." (Blackstone's Commentaries, 204. Ibid, 377)ï¿½ In England women who were sentenced to be burnt were allowed by law to be strangled with a rope before the fire got to them and thus died in much the same way as they would have by hanging. On the Continent, strangling before burning was also allowed, the rope being called a "retentum."ï¿½ In some Nordic countries, a small barrel of gunpowder was tied to the prisoner which was meant to explode on contact with the flames, thus giving them a fairly instant death.ï¿½ If they were neither strangled or blown up, they died from a combination of shock, burning of the lungs and air passages and smoke inhalation, all of which took a considerable amount of time to kill and caused extreme pain. Elizabeth Gaunt was the last woman to be burnt for high treason in the normal sense of the word.

She was executed in 1685, having been convicted of involvement in the Rye House plot. She was denied strangulation and was thus burned alive. The burning of a woman for treason at Tyburn is depicted here . 18th century burnings. Between 1702 and 1734, 10 women were burned at London ï¿½s Tyburn.ï¿½ Two of these were for the Petty Treason murder of their husbands, and eight for High Treason, comprising two for possession of coining equipment, four for counterfeiting and two for coining itself.ï¿½ Barbara Spencer was burned for counterfeiting on Wednesday, the 5th of July 1721 at Tyburn. Barbara was a rebellious young woman who wanted easy money and coining seemed to offer this.

She was drawn to Tyburn tied to a hurdle (similar to a piece of wattle fencing) behind a horse.ï¿½ (Male traitors were also drawn to the gallows in this way before being hanged and quartered and strangled at the stake prior to the fagots being lit.ï¿½ Catherine Hayes was burned at Tyburn on Monday, the 9th of May 1726 for Petty Treason (the murder of her husband). She had persuaded her two lovers to kill her husband with an axe, a crime for which the two men were sentenced to hang. She too was dragged on a hurdle to Tyburn and when she had finished praying, was fastened to the stake by an iron chain round her body. A rope halter was put round her neck (running through a hole in the stake) and the faggots (bundles of dry brushwood) piled round her. When Richard Arnet, the executioner, lit the fire he found the flames too fierce to allow him to pull the strangling rope so the poor women was burned alive - a horrible death that took a considerable time. Her execution is vividly described in the Newgate Calendar.

She was reduced to ashes within an hour, so we are told. ( Click here to see a drawing of her execution and here for a detailed account of her crime and execution). Elizabeth Wright was burned for coining on the 19th of December 1733 , although her 26 year old daughter and accomplice were reprieved.ï¿½ Wednesday, the 2nd of October 1734 saw a triple burning, at Tyburn, of Mary Haycock, Elizabeth Tracey and Catherine Bougle for counterfeiting and possession of coining equipment.ï¿½ This is London ï¿½s only recorded multiple burning in the 18th century.

Although burning was not a common punishment by this time, at least 33 women suffered this fate between 1735 and 1789.ï¿½ They were: Name *Over is a village about a mile from Gloucester , where the county gallows stood at this time.ï¿½ Elizabeth Webber (or Webster) was probably burned at York in December 1739 for the murder of her husband but her execution cannot be confirmed.ï¿½ Alice Davis was most probably burnt for coining on the 31st of March 1758 .

At the September Sessions of the Old Bailey on the 8th of September 1773, Elizabeth Herring was indicted for ï¿½feloniously, traitorously, and of her malice aforethought, making an assault upon Robert Herring, her husband, and with a certain case knife giving him a mortal wound on the right side of the throat, of the length of one inch, and the depth of two inches, of which wound he instantly died, on August the 5th of that year.ï¿½ï¿½ She was convicted of Petty Treason (note the word ï¿½traitorouslyï¿½ in the indictment) and the Recorder passed the following sentence upon her, "you Elizabeth Herring are to be led from hence to the Gaol from whence you came; and on Monday next you are to be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution; where you are to be burnt with fire until you are dead."ï¿½ The sentence was carried out at Tyburn in front of some 20,000 spectators on Monday, the 13th of September 1773 . The last woman to be burnt for petty treason, i.e.

the murder of her husband in Britain Monday, the 8th of March 1784 thereafter hanging was substituted for this crime.ï¿½ Her co-accused, John Quinn, was hanged first. The last three women to be burnt for coining offences were executed outside Londonï¿½s Newgate prison, these being Phoebe Harris on Wednesday, the 21st of June 1786, ( Click here for a detailed account of her case), Margaret Sullivan on Wednesday, the 25th of June 1788 and Catherine Murphy (also known as Christian Bowman), who was put to death on Wednesday, the 18th of March 1789.

Margaret Sullivan and her co-accused, Jeremiah Grace, came to trial at the 7th of May Sessions of the Old Bailey in 1788.ï¿½ They were indicted as follows, ï¿½for that they, on the 29th of April, a piece of base coin resembling the current silver coin of this kingdom, called a shilling, falsely and deceitfully, feloniously and traitorously did colour with materials, producing the colour of silver.ï¿½ï¿½ For this crime of High Treason, Jeremiah was sentenced to be hanged and Margaret to be burnt. Catherine Murphyï¿½s execution was to be the last burning of a woman in England and was really was only a modified form of hanging, followed by burning. She was led from the Debtor's Door of Newgate past the nearby gallows from which four men, including her husband, were already hanging, to the stake. Here she mounted a small platform in front of it and an iron band was put round her body. The noose, dangling from an iron bracket projecting from the top of the stake, was tightened around her neck.

When the preparations were complete, William Brunskill, the hangman, removed the platform leaving her suspended and only after 30 minutes were the faggots placed around her and lit. On the 10th of May 1790 , Sir Benjamin Hammett raised the issue of burning women in the House of Commons. He told fellow MPï¿½s that it had been his painful office and duty in the previous year to attend the burning of a female (Catherine Murphy), in the office of Sheriff of London at the time, and he therefore moved to bring in a Bill to alter the law. He pointed out that the sheriff who refused to execute a sentence of burning alive was liable to prosecution, but thanked Heaven that there was not a man in England who would carry such a sentence literally into execution.ï¿½ (see earlier reference to strangling prior to burning) The Treason Act of 1790 was passed (30 George III. C.

48) and Parliament substituted ordinary hanging for coining offences on the 5th of June 1790 .ï¿½ 25 year old Sophia Girton who had been convicted of coining at the Old Bailey on the 24th of April 1790 was thus saved from the fire and was in fact pardoned on condition of transportation for life to New South Wales the 12th of June 1790 . Her co-defendant, Thomas Parker, was hanged on the 19th of May 1790 .

Executions by burning at Newgate were distinctly unpopular with the local residents of what was a respectable business area of the City.ï¿½ They had sent a petition to the Lord Mayor requesting that Phoebe Harrisï¿½ execution be carried out elsewhere.ï¿½ There was an early version of ï¿½not in my back yardï¿½ rather than a protest against the severity of her punishment.ï¿½ It was later reported that some locals became ill from the smoke from her body.ï¿½ There were similar protests over the Sullivan and Murphy executions and a great feeling of relief when Sophia Girton was reprieved, and the whole ghastly business passed into history under the provisions of the Treason Act of 1790.ï¿½ The Sheriffs were also becoming increasingly unhappy about attending burnings, and it was they who brought forward the Bill to end this practice.ï¿½ Even though by this time the condemned woman was dead before the faggots were lit, it must have still been a gruesome and revolting spectacle and one which conveyed a feeling of injustice.ï¿½ Men convicted of coining offences were hanged in the same way as other condemned males.ï¿½ The Times newspaper took up

 this theme after Phoebeï¿½s burning and printed the following article:ï¿½ ï¿½The execution of a woman for coining on Wednesday morning, reflects a scandal upon the law and was not only inhuman, but shamefully indelicate and shocking.

Why should the law in this species of offence inflict a severer punishment upon a woman, than a man. It is not an offence which she can perpetrate alone - in every such case the insistence of a man has been found the operating motive upon the woman; yet the man is but hanged, and the woman burned.ï¿½ï¿½ Other London newspapers carried similar articles.ï¿½ Similar outrage was expressed two years later at the burning of Margaret Sullivan, although strangely there was little media interest at the burning of Christian Murphy. Death of Joan of Arc | Trial of Joan of Arc the Martyr | Joan of Arc burned at the steak | Joan of Arc hear voices before she died. Joan of Arc in Battle  Music & Movies  Patronage  Messenger Joan of Arc  Medals  Biography  Death of Joan  Feast Day  Life of Joan  The Passion of Joan of Arc  Timeline  Novena to Joan of Arc  Prayers  Paintings  About Me The Death of Joan of Arc May 30, 1431 would be a day that would forever live in infamy in France.

For it was on this day that the death of Joan of Arc be conducted through burning Joan of Arc at the stake. Joan of Arc's death would prove to be one of the greatest injustices in the Middle Ages, and it was not until 25 years later that she was found innocent of all heresy charges by the Pope himself. Since heresy was a capital crime only when it was a repeat offense, the court of the English for the trial of Joan of Arc stated that Joan of Arc had heard voices a second time while in prison. On top of that, she had stopped wearing men's clothing while in prison until she was molested, after which she began to wear men's clothing again, helping the charge of the English against her for heresy. The death of Joan of Arc would be conducted, with Joan of Arc at the stake, on May 30, 1431. She was tied to a tall pillar in the Vieux-Marche in Rouen, where she asked two of the clergy present to hold a crucifix before her. Feeling pity for her, a peasant made a small cross that Joan of Arc put in the front of her dress.

When Joan of Arc burned at the stake, witnesses said she met it with composure and bravery, causing many to feel that there was a horrible injustice against this young woman. After Joan of Arc died, the English raked the coals and ashes to expose her charred body to show that she had not escaped alive. They needed Joan of Arc's death to be proven beyond a doubt to keep her from becoming Joan of Arc the Martyr. Then, the English burned the body twice more to ashes to prevent the collection of ashes from the death of Joan of Arc. After Joan of Arc was burned at the stake two times, they took the ashes and threw them into the Seine as a final injustice against this woman who had attempted to free her people. Heresy was the charge during the trial of Joan of Arc; many believed she had actually spoken to God. Even the executioner, Geoffroy Therage, later said that after Joan of Arc died, he greatly feared being damned for his part to play in helping Joan of Arc be burned at the stake. Joan of Arc's trial and Joan of Arc's death at the stake would forever be seen as examples of someone dying for something they believe in and being remembered throughout history for it.

How old was joan of arc when she died? When did joan of arc die? Where did joan of arc die? Why did joan of arc die? Join us on Joan of Arc martyred - May 30, 1431 - HISTORY.com Joan of Arc martyred Publisher A+E Networks At Rouen in English-controlled Normandy, Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresy. Joan was born in 1412, the daughter of a tenant farmer at Domremy, on the borders of the duchies of Bar and Lorraine. In 1415, the Hundred Years War between England and France entered a crucial phase when the young King Henry V of England invaded France and won a series of decisive victories against the forces of King Charles VI. By the time of Henry’s death in August 1422, the English and their French-Burgundian allies controlled Aquitaine and most of northern France, including Paris. Charles VI, long incapacitated, died one month later, and his son, Charles, regent from 1418, prepared to take the throne.

However, Reims, the traditional city of French coronation, was held by the Anglo-Burgundians, and the Dauphin (heir apparent to the French throne) remained uncrowned. Meanwhile, King Henry VI of England, the infant son of Henry V and Catherine of Valois, the daughter of Charles VI, was proclaimed king of France by the English. Joan’s village of Domremy lay on the frontier between the France of the Dauphin and that of the Anglo-Burgundians. In the midst of this unstable environment, Joan began hearing “voices” of three Christian saints—St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret. When she was about 16, these voices exhorted her to aid the Dauphin in capturing Reims and therefore the French throne. In May 1428, she traveled to Vaucouleurs, a stronghold of the Dauphin, and told the captain of the garrison of her visions. Disbelieving the young peasant girl, he sent her home. In January 1429, she returned, and the captain, impressed by her piety and determination, agreed to allow her passage to the Dauphin at Chinon.

Dressed in men’s clothes and accompanied by six soldiers, she reached the Dauphin’s castle at Chinon in February 1429 and was granted an audience. Charles hid himself among his courtiers, but Joan immediately picked him out and informed him of her divine mission. For several weeks, Charles had Joan questioned by theologians at Poitiers, who concluded that, given his desperate straits, the Dauphin would be well-advised to make use of this strange and charismatic girl. Charles furnished her with a small army, and on April 27, 1429, she set out for Orleans, besieged by the English since October 1428. On April 29, as a French sortie distracted the English troops on the west side of Orleans, Joan entered unopposed by its eastern gate. She brought greatly needed supplies and reinforcements and inspired the French to a passionate resistance. She personally led the charge in several battles and on May 7 was struck by an arrow. After quickly dressing her wound, she returned to the fight, and the French won the day. On May 8, the English retreated from Orleans.

During the next five weeks, Joan and the French commanders led the French into a string of stunning victories over the English. On July 16, the royal army reached Reims, which opened its gates to Joan and the Dauphin. The next day, Charles VII was crowned king of France, with Joan standing nearby holding up her standard: an image of Christ in judgment. After the ceremony, she knelt before Charles, joyously calling him king for the first time. On September 8, the king and Joan attacked Paris. During the battle, Joan carried her standard up to the earthworks and called on the Parisians to surrender the city to the king of France. She was wounded but continued to rally the king’s troops until Charles ordered an end to the unsuccessful siege. That year, she led several more small campaigns, capturing the town of Saint-Pierre-le-Moitier. In December, Charles ennobled Joan, her parents, and her brothers. In May 1430, the Burgundians laid siege to Compiegne, and Joan stole into the town under the cover of darkness to aid in its defense. On May 23, while leading a sortie against the Burgundians, she was captured.

The Burgundians sold her to the English, and in March 1431 she went on trial before ecclesiastical authorities in Rouen on charges of heresy. Her most serious crime, according to the tribunal, was her rejection of church authority in favor of direct inspiration from God. After refusing to submit to the church, her sentence was read on May 24: She was to be turned over to secular authorities and executed. Reacting with horror to the pronouncement, Joan agreed to recant and was condemned instead to perpetual imprisonment. Ordered to put on women’s clothes, she obeyed, but a few days later the judges went to her cell and found her dressed again in male attire. Questioned, she told them that St. Catherine and St. Margaret had reproached her for giving in to the church against their will. She was found to be a relapsed heretic and on May 29 ordered handed over to secular officials. On May 30, Joan, 19 years old, was burned at the stake at the Place du Vieux-Marche in Rouen.

Before the pyre was lit, she instructed a priest to hold high a crucifix for her to see and to shout out prayers loud enough to be heard above the roar of the flames. As a source of military inspiration, Joan of Arc helped turn the Hundred Years War firmly in France’s favor. By 1453, Charles VII had reconquered all of France except for Calais, which the English relinquished in 1558. In 1920, Joan of Arc, one of the great heroes of French history, was recognized as a Christian saint by the Roman Catholic Church. Her feast day is May 30. Related Videos WOMEN | RELIGION | HISTORY | FEMINISM | WITCH CRAZE TIMELINE How Religious Belief Can Become Deadly as Secular Law The URL for this webpage is 1252 Pope Innocent IV authorizes papal inquisitors to use torture in the prosecution of heresy. This move sets the stage for the torture of witches since witchcraft would become heresy. At first, torture could not be repeated, eventually suspects were tortured until they confessed.

1324 - 1325 Early witch trial in Ireland, the Bishop of Ossory presided. Alice Kyteler, a wealthy widow, accused of causing her husbands death by demonic means. Eventually she escaped, her maid was burned at the stake. 1420 One of the very first witch hunts in Bern. The Bishop presided in secular court. 1431 Joan of Arc burned at the stake for being a witch. She was burned alive, the wood pile was constructed to prolong her death agonies. 1486 Publication of the Malleus Maleficiarum, the Hammer of Witches. Written by two Inquisitors, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, it was widely distributed and responsible for much of the similarity in witch trials and confessions. With papal backing, the Malleus claimed that those who did not believe in witchcraft were heretics, in itself a crime punishable by death. 1524 Publication of Tractatus de Hereticus et Sortilegiis by papal witch judge, Paulus Grillandus.

The book expounded on the witches sabbath, a gathering of witches, which leads to accused witches being forced under torture to name others they saw at the gatherings. 1532 Holy Roman Emperor decrees witchcraft can be determined by judicial torture and punishable by burning to death. 1542 English parliament makes witchcraft a capital crime, the legal code carries over to the new world colonies. 1550 About mid century, infanticide began to come to the notice of the courts. Along with this development, witchcraft is increasingly seen as a secular crime rather than an ecclesiastical or spiritual mistake. 1556 French Parlement issues edict that every expectant mother must register her pregnancy and have witness at the birth. A stillbirth or dead infant could lead to murder charges and execution of the mother. 1560 Women begin to be accused of witchcraft and sexual crimes. For the first time women have legal standing as the accused. 1563 Scottish courts declare witchcraft a secular crime. 1580 The English witch hunts begin in earnest, over 1,000 are put to death. Where the sex of the dead is known, over 90 percent are women.

1580 - 1630 Most virulent witch persecutions coincide with redistribution of property and wealth from working peasantry to wealthy. 1585 Two German villages left with but one woman each after a witch purge. 1589 In Quedlinburg, 133 witches executed in one day. 1590 Rottenburg, Germany over 150 women executed for witchcraft in one year in one town. 1590 - 1700 Scottish witch hunts lead to over 3,000 accusations and about 1,300 executions. The hunt was spurred on by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church although the prosecutions and executions were civil. 1595 Publication of Demonolatreiae, by Nicolas Remy who claimed to have executed over 800 witches. The book described the witches sabbaths in lurid and completely imaginary detail. 1608 The most comprehensive guide to the identification, capture, questioning and execution of witches is published. The Compendium Maleficiarum featured illustrations of some of the more bizarre behaviors ascribed to witches including boiling babies and kissing the devils buttocks.

1610 - 1630 The German witch craze is at its height. Tens of thousands die, more than 80 percent are women. 1628 - 1630 Two years of crop failures and famine leads to the condemnation and death of 40 witches in Legeuil, Franche-Compte. 1629 In one year of a 50 year witchcraze, 274 people, 257 (94 percent) of whom were women, were burnt at the stake in Eichstatt, Barvaria. 1635 Publication of Lutheran judge Benedict Carpzows book, Practica Rerum Criminalium. It was the Malleus of Protestant witch prosecutions. 1637 By the end of 3 waves of persecutions (1590, 1603-30, and 1637) in Bavaria hundreds had been put to death, almost all women. Every village suffered, the terror was unrelenting for 50 years. 1638 Ann Hutchinson denounced for antinomianism heresy and religious leadership, excommunicated and banished from MA Bay Colony.

Her friend Mary Dyer was hanged, their mutual midwife, Jane Hawkins was banished. While not actually accused of witchcraft, it was the subtext in all three trials. 1645 -1647 Englands most serious witchcraft outbreak, hundreds accused and hanged, 90 percent were women. 1647 Alse Young, a widow, hanged for witchcraft in Hartford, Connecticut. Hers was the first trial and execution expressly for witchcraft in the colonies. Her daughter Alice was accused of witchcraft 30 years later, in MA. 1648 First witch execution in MA colony. Midwife Margaret Jones hanged in Boston. 1649 A witch-pricker is awarded 20 shillings for every witch he finds in the English town of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Thirty women were publicly accused, stripped, and pricked. Not surprisingly, most were found guilty. 1656 Widow Ann Hibbens tried and convicted of witchcraft in MA colony and hanged. Hibbens was a woman of property, having inherited from her husband. Her main crime however was challenging the religious, secular, and familial structures of the colony.

1660 The various reformations and counter reformations effectively Christianize the rural populations of Europe, stamping out pagan practices and internalizing the concept of the devil. 1661 -1663 Hartford CT, witchcraze outbreak, over a dozen accused, four were hanged three women, the fourth was the husband of one of the women, others fled. 1676 - 1725 Polish witchcraze, although short-lived and late in comparison with the rest of Europe, accounts for an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 deaths according to some sources. 1688 The widow Glover hanged for witchcraft in Boston, she spoke Gaelic, not English and was Roman Catholic. She was accused by children of causing the demonic possession of a prosperous family. 1692 Salem, MA witchcraze outbreak, which spread to surrounding communities. Since confessing witches were not executed, a large number of the accused admitted to being witches. While the possessed young girls were the central accusers, most of those bringing the accusation of witchcraft were men.

Over 200 were accused, 75 percent of them women, most of the men accused were relatives of the accused women. By the time Governor Phips halted the proceedings, 14 women had been hanged, five men hanged, one man pressed to death and two women died in prison. 1710 - 1760 Hungarian witch hunts peak during and following a series of wars with Austria and Turkey. Over 800 are killed, 92 percent of them women. 1920 Joan of Arc canonized a saint. 1985 Women in the village of Gelnhausen, Germany protest making a witch prison a tourist attraction. Dressed in white, they carry placards with the names of those murdered in the village so long ago. 1992 Memorial park dedicated to victims of the witch hunt in Salem, MA. © 1998, 1999 Margaret Russell for the Lexington Area NOW History Project. All Rights Reserved. This timeline may be distributed freely under the following conditions: that the use is not for profit; that it is distributed in complete, unchanged form; that this complete notice is intact and included in the distribution.

Contact suffragehistory@gmail.com for additional information. Famous cases: The trial of Joan of Arc — Brightside Famous cases: The trial of Joan of Arc The journey of an illiterate farm girl who became first a soldier then a saint. In 1429, France was fighting the English in the Hundred Years’ War. The English had captured nearly all of northern France, including Paris, as well as some parts of the southwest. They had laid siege to Orléans, which was the only remaining loyal French city north of the Loire river. Its strategic location made it the last obstacle to an assault on the rest of the French heartland. In this defeated French court Joan, a 17 year old peasant, appeared. She claimed that Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret told her to drive out the English and bring Prince Charles to Reims for his coronation. The French court was so desperate for help that they allowed an illiterate farm girl to take charge of her country’s army. War criminal or witch? Amazingly Joan led the French to victory. She captured the city of Orléans and fought her way successfully to Reims, where in 1429 Charles VII was crowned King of France.

However on 23rd May 1430, Joan was captured by the English. It was the usual custom for prisoners of war to be ransomed, but Joan’s family had no money and the king failed to intervene. The English could not understand how they had been defeated by a mere girl, so they decided to try Joan for witchcraft, and turned her over to the Church authority. In addition to the charges of sorcery, heresy and witchcraft, Joan was also tried for the offence of wearing men's clothing. The Bishop of Beauvais, Pierre Cauchon was appointed as the examiner and judge of the trial. Joan's interrogation lasted many months. Cauchon had hoped she would break and confess, but she did not, and the clerk commissioned to collect testimony against Joan could find no evidence. Yet despite the lack of confession and the lack of evidence the court went ahead with the trial, denying Joan a legal advisor. Under Inquisitorial guidelines, Joan should have been confined to a prison under the supervision of female guards Instead, the English kept her guarded by their own soldiers. A formidable witness The trial record demonstrates her remarkable intellect. The transcript's most famous exchange is an exercise in subtlety.

Asked if she knew whether she was in God's grace, she answered: 'If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.' The question is a scholarly trap. Church doctrine held that no one could be certain of being in God's grace. If she had answered yes, then she would have convicted herself of heresy. If she had answered no, then she would have confessed her own guilt. Joan had agreed to wear only women’s clothing, however towards the end of the trial she resumed her male clothing, either as a defence against rape or because her clothes were stolen. On this technical issue Joan was charged as a relapsed heretic and on the 30th May 1431 she was burnt at the stake in the marketplace of Rouen. Correcting the record Pope Callixtus III authorised a retrial after the war ended at the request of Inquisitor-General Jean Brehal and of Joan's mother. The aim of the retrial was to investigate whether the trial had been handled justly. A panel of theologians analysed testimony from 115 witnesses, and concludes that Joan was a martyr.

The panel also concludes that Cauchon was a heretic for having convicted an innocent woman in pursuit of a vendetta. Nearly 500 years after her death, the Church canonized Joan of Arc. On 9th May 1920, Pope Benedict XV declared her a saint of the Catholic Church. Top quotes "I promise to speak truth on what touches your Case; but the more you constrain me to swear, the later will I tell you." "That which God had made me do, had commanded or shall command, I will not fail to do for any man alive."

Question: Who was burnt at the stake for witchcraft in 1431?
Answer: Joan of Arc